Pork knuckles, pork belly, pretzels, bratwursts, schnitznels and most importantly.. a shitload of beer. Certainly not my drink of choice but to get into the true spirit of Oktoberfest, I made an effort to accustom myself to the yeasty beverage and must I say, what a great effort at that!

First thing’s first, you wanna dress like the locals, so a few clicks on amazon and a couple of days later, my dirndl is delivered. Outfit – sorted! Next up, lets drink what the locals drink..along with thousands of other tourists who travel from across the world purely for this festival. Now being one that hates beer with a passion, this was going to be an extremely difficult task for me. I slowly weaned myself onto the stuff at London’s Oktoberfest. Started with half a pint and a packet of chips (or crisps as they call it here!). One sip, one chip – not so bad! Before I knew it I was half a pint down. Yay – small achievement!

We made sure to reach the grounds early to avoid disappointment entering the beer halls. Once inside, tables were filling up fast with many already with a beer in hand. Mind you, this was only 10 in the morning! ‘Chug, chug, chug!!’ screamed onlookers encouraging those tanks who got up on the tables to skull such huge amounts of beer in the one go. Stocky guys, scrawny guys, even girls were giving it a go – more power to that! There was one girl who didn’t quite reach the finish mark and decided to pour the rest of the beer over her head – pretty funny but points to her for giving it a crack though.

Now comes the ultimate test. Will I be able to down… not one pint but a full stein?! Sticking to the same method as London’s Oktoberfest but with a giant pretzel this time. One gulp, one bite and not long after…I was feeling a little bit woozy! Fast forward 2 hours and I was back in action – singing and dancing along to the band playing. Seeing everybody all jovial, in high sprits…What a fun atmosphere! People go to great lengths to try and dress the part so thankfully my costume paid off – £43 well spent.

The same vibe carried on outside the beer halls where there were rides and games to partake in. Everyone seemed so fascinated by this conveyor belt type ride which seemed to whisk people off their feet. Looked like heaps of fun watching from down below, it definitely drew in a crowd. Walking around, there were drunks of all kinds amongst the sober lot… Happy drunks, sappy drunks, blind drunks – you name it, we saw it! Now have I finally jumped on the beer bandwagon?? Don’t quite think so. Won’t be ordering another beer for a long time, I can tell you that much. Cider it is!